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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. degree — an amount
  3. stock — shares
  4. spell — magic
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. band — a music group
  7. key — the most important part
  8. snap — to click
  9. chest — of your body
  10. pitch — completely
  11. stock — goods
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. chest — of your body
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. band — a ring
  16. spell — a short time
  17. degree — temperature
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. chest — a box
  20. key — in music
  21. degree — from a university
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. key — for a lock

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com